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๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Singapore /Sports

Merino strikes late as Spain edge Portugal to reach World Cup quarter-finals

From CNA · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News From a news agency Outcome reported
  • Substitute Mikel Merino scored a late winner to secure Spain a 1-0 victory over Portugal in the World Cup round of 16.
  • The win ends Cristiano Ronaldo's World Cup career, with Spain advancing to face the United States or Belgium in the quarter-finals.
  • The match, played in front of a large crowd, was a tight contest that failed to deliver significant excitement until Merino's decisive goal in injury time.

Substitute Mikel Merino's late strike in injury time propelled Spain into the World Cup quarter-finals, ending Cristiano Ronaldo's international tournament career with a 1-0 victory over Portugal. The European champions will now face either the United States or Belgium in their next match. The highly anticipated game, held in the air-conditioned Dallas Stadium, did not live up to its billing for much of the contest, with extra time appearing likely. However, fellow substitute Ferran Torres provided the assist for Merino to settle the match in the first minute of stoppage time. This result marks a disappointing end to the World Cup for the 41-year-old Ronaldo, who had confirmed this would be his final appearance on the global stage. Both Iberian neighbors entered the match undefeated, but Spain had maintained a perfect defensive record, not conceding a single goal throughout the tournament. Despite their talent and history, Spain has only won the World Cup once, in 2010, while Portugal's best performance was a third-place finish in 1966. The showdown was billed as a generational clash between Ronaldo and Spain's 18-year-old prodigy Lamine Yamal. A somber moment occurred before kickoff with a tribute to the late Portuguese forward Diogo Jota.

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DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by CNA. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.